Cha Bum-Kun

This is a Korean name; the family name is Cha.

Cha Bum-Kun, (born 22 May 1953 in Hwaseong, Korea), is a Korean football manager and former player, nicknamed Tscha Bum in Germany ("Cha Boom") because of his name and his thunderous ball striking ability. In his native Korea, Cha is hailed as a national hero for his accomplishments in the Bundesliga and the Korean national team. During his career, Cha has played for SV Darmstadt 98, Eintracht Frankfurt and Bayer 04 Leverkusen, and represented his national side 121 times, scoring 55 goals. He was given the title Asia's Player of the Century by the International Federation of Football History and Statistics. He is the all time leading goal scorer for the South Korean National team.

Biography

Born on 22 May 1953 in Hwaseong in the Korean province of Gyeonggi, Cha Bum-Kun began his soccer career with the Korean Air Force club in 1971, the same year he became a Korean U-19 international. By 1972 he had been capped by the Korean national team becoming the youngest player ever called up to the squad. After establishing himself as the best footballer in Korea, Cha wanted to play in Bundesliga of Germany. Cha promised to learn the skills of football in Germany and help Korea to advance in football. He eventually rose to international stardom and fulfilled his promise by coming back to Korea after his retirement and started the Cha Bum Kun soccer schools for the youth in South Korea. He coached for the South Korean national team in 1998 World Cup and also for Ulsan and Suwon in K-League.

Club career

Cha started his career in Bundesliga at the age of 25. In December 1978, Cha was transferred to German side SV Darmstadt, where he spent less than a year before being snapped up by Bundesliga team Eintracht Frankfurt. Cha made an immediate impact with his new club, scoring in three consecutive games. His team went on to win the UEFA Cup in the 1979–80 season. He was widely considered as one of the best forwards in the Bundesliga during his career. He became the third-highest-paid soccer player in Germany. During 1981 season, in a game against Leverkusen, he suffered a near-career-ending knee injury.

In 1983 he was transferred to Bayer Leverkusen. With Bayer Levekusen, he won a second UEFA Cup in 1988. Cha scored a dramatic equalizer against Espanol to tie the game 3:3. Leverkusen eventually went on to win the game on penalties.

Cha retired in 1989 after a long Bundesliga career spanning 308 games in which he scored 98 goals (none from penalty kicks), then the highest for a foreign player in the league. During his 10 year career, he received only one yellow card.

International career

Cha was part of the South Korean national team of 1986 FIFA World Cup finals, in Mexico, where they lost to Argentina and Italy but earned a draw against Bulgaria. The opposing teams were fully aware of Cha's scoring abilities and frustrated him by marking him with two defenders at all times. He did not score any goals in the tournament. Looking back, he recalled: "We didn't achieve our first win but the campaign was not disappointing as we played hard and well against the best teams in the world, including the eventual champions Argentina."

• June 2: Argentina 3:1 South Korea
• June 5: Bulgaria 1:1 South Korea
• June 10: South Korea 2:3 Italy

Managerial career

Cha moved into management with K-League side Ulsan Hyundai Horang-i, coaching them from 1991–1994. His next appointment in January 1997 was Korean national team coach and he led the nation to the 1998 World Cup; however, a disastrous 5-0 defeat at the hands of The Netherlands in Korea's second group game got Cha fired. He later blamed the Korea Football Association for the bad performance, citing lack of bonuses and alleging pro soccer games in Korea were fixed. The KFA promptly slapped a five-year ban on him and he soon left the country with his wife.

After an 18-month spell coaching Shenzhen Ping'an in China, Cha took up a commentator position with MBC. He returned to coaching at the end of 2003 when offered the Suwon Samsung Bluewings position.

Cha achieved immediate success with Suwon by lifting the 2004 K-League championship, an achievement he ranked as even better than lifting the UEFA Cup as a player in 1988.

Family

Cha's son, Cha Du-Ri, is following in his father's footsteps, though he has struggled in Germany. Du-ri is renowned for his thunderous pace and explosive kicks, and plays for TuS Koblenz in the Bundesliga 2nd Division.

Honours

Eintracht Frankfurt

• UEFA Cup: 1980
• German Cup: 1981

Bayer 04 Leverkusen

• UEFA Cup: 1988

Korea Republic

• AFC Asian Cup Runner-up: 1972

Other

He was voted Asia's Player of the Century by the International Federation of Football History & Statistics in 1999.

Career statistics

Domestic League

International goals

Scores list Korea Republic's goal tally first.

#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	10 May 1972	Bangkok, Thailand	Cambodia	4-1	Won	1972 AFC Asian Cup
2	19 July 1972	Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	Singapore	4-1	Won	Merdeka Cup
3	19 July 1972	Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	Singapore	4-1	Won	Merdeka Cup
4	23 July 1972	Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	Indonesia	2-0	Won	Merdeka Cup
5	29 July 1972	Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	Malaysia	2-1	Won	Merdeka Cup
6	20 September 1972	Seoul, Korea Republic	Thailand	3-0	Won	President's Cup
7	22 November 1972	Bangkok, Thailand	Indonesia	1-1	Draw	King's Cup
8	28 May 1973	Seoul, Korea Republic	Israel	1-0	Won	1974 FIFA World Cup Qual.
9	22 September 1973	Seoul, Korea Republic	Cambodia	6-0	Won	President's Cup
10	22 September 1973	Seoul, Korea Republic	Cambodia	6-0	Won	President's Cup
11	30 September 1973	Seoul, Korea Republic	Malaysia	2-0	Won	President's Cup
12	16 December 1973	Bangkok, Thailand	Cambodia	5-0	Won	King's Cup
13	22 December 1973	Bangkok, Thailand	Myanmar	2-0	Won	King's Cup
14	25 December 1973	Bangkok, Thailand	Malaysia	2-1	Won	King's Cup
15	18 May 1974	Seoul, Korea Republic	Myanmar	3-0	Won	President's Cup
16	25 December 1974	Hong Kong, China	Indonesia	3-1	Won	Friendly match
17	29 July 1975	Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	Malaysia	3-1	Won	Merdeka Cup
18	7 August 1975	Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	Thailand	6-0	Won	Merdeka Cup
19	9 August 1975	Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	Japan	3-1	Won	Merdeka Cup
20	9 August 1975	Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	Japan	3-1	Won	Merdeka Cup
21	9 August 1975	Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	Japan	3-1	Won	Merdeka Cup
22	11 August 1975	Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	Indonesia	5-1	Won	Merdeka Cup
23	15 August 1975	Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	Bangladesh	4-0	Won	King's Cup
24	21 December 1975	Bangkok, Thailand	Myanmar	3-1	Won	King's Cup
25	21 December 1975	Bangkok, Thailand	Myanmar	3-1	Won	Friendly match
26	10 August 1976	Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	India	8-0	Won	Merdeka Cup
27	10 August 1976	Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	India	8-0	Won	Merdeka Cup
28	10 August 1976	Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	India	8-0	Won	Merdeka Cup
29	15 August 1976	Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	Myanmar	2-2	Draw	Merdeka Cup
30	11 September 1976	Seoul, Korea Republic	Malaysia	4-4	Draw	President's Cup
31	11 September 1976	Seoul, Korea Republic	Malaysia	4-4	Draw	President's Cup
32	11 September 1976	Seoul, Korea Republic	Malaysia	4-4	Draw	President's Cup
33	13 September 1976	Seoul, Korea Republic	India	4-0	Won	President's Cup
34	17 September 1976	Seoul, Korea Republic	Singapore	7-0	Won	President's Cup
35	17 September 1976	Seoul, Korea Republic	Singapore	7-0	Won	President's Cup
36	22 December 1976	Bangkok, Thailand	Malaysia	1-1	Draw	King's Cup
37	14 February 1977	Singapore, Singapore	Singapore	4-0	Won	Friendly match
38	20 March 1977	Seoul, Korea Republic	Israel	3-1	Won	1978 FIFA World Cup Qual.
39	3 April 1977	Seoul, Korea Republic	Japan	1-0	Won	1978 FIFA World Cup Qual.
40	26 June 1977	Hong Kong, China	Hong Kong	1-0	Won	1978 FIFA World Cup Qual.
41	17 July 1977	Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	Libya	4-0	Won	Merdeka Cup
42	22 July 1977	Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	Indonesia	5-1	Won	Merdeka Cup
43	24 July 1977	Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	Myanmar	4-0	Won	Merdeka Cup
44	31 July 1977	Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	Iraq	1-0	Won	Merdeka Cup
45	27 August 1977	Sydney, Australia	Australia	1-2	Lost	1978 FIFA World Cup Qual.
46	3 September 1977	Seoul, Korea Republic	Thailand	3-1	Won	President's Cup
47	5 September 1977	Busan, Korea Republic	India	3-0	Won	President's Cup
48	5 September 1977	Busan, Korea Republic	India	3-0	Won	President's Cup
49	13 September 1977	Seoul, Korea Republic	Malaysia	3-0	Won	President's Cup
50	5 November 1977	Kuwait City, Kuwait	Kuwait	2-2	Draw	1978 FIFA World Cup Qual.
51	19 July 1978	Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	Japan	4-0	Won	Merdeka Cup
52	22 July 1978	Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	Iraq	2-0	Won	Merdeka Cup
53	25 July 1978	Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	Indonesia	2-0	Won	Merdeka Cup
54	11 December 1978	Bangkok, Thailand	Bahrain	5-1	Won	1978 Asian Games
55	17 December 1978	Bangkok, Thailand	China PR	1-0	Won	1978 Asian Games

Records

• Cha is the 9th player in history to win the UEFA Cup for different teams. Cha shares the record with reputable players such as Salvatore Schillaci and Jürgen Klinsmann.
• Cha once held the Bundesliga record for the number of goals scored by a non-German player by surpassing predecessor Allan Simonsen's record of 76 goals in 1985. In 1999, Swiss Stéphane Chapuisat broke Cha's 14-year-old Bundesliga record of 98 goals. As of 30 May 2007, Cha is ranked fifth in the category after Giovane Élber's 133, Chapuisat's 106, Aílton's 105 and Claudio Pizarro's 100 goals.
• As of 30 May 2007, Cha still holds the Bundesliga record for the number of games played by a non-German player. His record of 308 games is very likely to be surpassed in the imminent future by the closest contender amongst currently active Bundesliga players, Sergej Barbarez of Bayer 04 Leverkusen, who has 300 games under his belt.
• Cha's record of 17 league goals in the 1985–86 season remains as the highest goal-tally achieved by an Asian player in Bundesliga history. The finest effort to date in attempt to match Cha's feat was delivered by Iranian striker Vahid Hashemian, who scored 16 goals during the 2003–04 season with Bochum.
• Cha is the Korea Republic's all-time leading scorer with 55 goals in international A matches.

See also

• List of South Korean footballers
• List of Koreans
• List of football (soccer) players
• List of Korea-related topics

South Korea squad – 1986 FIFA World Cup 1 Cho Byung‑Deouk • 2 Park Kyung‑Hoon • 3 Chung Jong‑Soo • 4 Cho Kwang‑Rae • 5 Chung Yong‑Hwan • 6 Lee Tae‑Ho • 7 Kim Jong‑Boo • 8 Cho Young‑Jeung • 9 Choi Soon‑Ho • 10 Park Chang‑Sun • 11 Cha Bum‑Kun • 12 Kim Pyung‑Seok • 13 Noh Soo‑Jin • 14 Cho Min‑Kook • 15 Yoo Byung‑Ok • 16 Kim Joo‑Sung • 17 Huh Jung‑Moo • 18 Kim Sam‑Soo • 19 Byun Byung‑Joo • 20 Kim Yong‑Se • 21 Oh Yeon‑Kyo • 22 Kang Deouk‑Soo • Coach: Kim Jung‑Nam

South Korea squad – 1998 FIFA World Cup 1 Kim Byung‑Ji • 2 Choi Sung‑Yong • 3 Lee Lim‑Saeng • 4 Choi Young‑Il • 5 Lee Min‑Sung • 6 Yoo Sang‑Chul • 7 Kim Do‑Keun • 8 Noh Jung‑Yoon • 9 Kim Do‑Hoon • 10 Choi Yong‑Soo • 11 Seo Jung‑Won • 12 Lee Sang‑Hun • 13 Kim Tae‑Young • 14 Ko Jong‑Soo • 15 Lee Sang‑Yoon • 16 Jang Hyung‑Seok • 17 Ha Seok‑Ju • 18 Hwang Sun‑Hong • 19 Jang Dae‑Il • 20 Hong Myung‑Bo • 21 Lee Dong‑Gook • 22 Seo Dong‑Myung • Coach: Cha Bum‑Kun (Kim Pyung‑Seok)

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